Nick placed his first independent phone call this month, one year after crawling over to the phone and randomly pushing buttons just to hear them beep. Fortunately, when he stole his mother's phone he called me, not Italy, so the call wasn't expensive. This is part of a continuing pattern of his increasing sociability. We're making more friends in the neighborhood now as Nick waves at every car, bike and runner that goes by.Brandi filled out a personality inventory for Nick in one of her magazines (probably the same one where you can 'rate your mate by the color of his socks' or 'estimate your ideal % of body fat by the number of carrots you can stick in your ear' so we take the advice with caution.) It appears he is a "Spirited" child, which is one of those words you use to describe another person's kid when you really want to say 'pushy' or 'loud' or 'uncontrollable tornado.' Essentially, he's uber curious, points at things constantly wanting me to say their name, and plows through other kids like the circus folk I encounter stampeding to board an airplane in every city. (Why do people have to cram onto the plane? What is this urge to compete for space on a plane where your seat is already guaranteed and assigned?)
Joy abounds as I finally stopped being cheap and bought an industrial sprinkler that will water my entire yard from one spot. Nick loves it - sticking his head in the streams, runnning under the water. It has a lifetime warranty, so he can take it to college with him. He's also back in the pool this summer, of which I have yet to post videos. He got his first skinned knee this month by racing around the pool and nosediving into some unforgiving concrete. He bled a little, brushed it off, and kept on trucking. Didn't slow him down.
Favorite new foods this month: barbeque chips, sloppy joes, and bratwurst.
I went away for a few days for business travel, and he sprouted while I was gone. He walked up to me when I returned, looked me in the eye, and explained to me... well, something I couldn't understand. But it felt like I got my first lecture. He's now very direct with his conversation. Tonite in the car, we pulled out of the driveway, and he asked, "Where are we going?" I'm not ready for full sentences yet; my reaction felt like immense surprise as if the neighbor's dog would have asked me for more treats in plain English - just hard to believe that's Nick already talking.
And he can find his belly button!
